S.L. Valley to see UDOT activity

The summer road construction season begins this month and the Salt Lake Valley once again will be a primary location for Utah Department of Transportation activity.

The impacts to motorists might not seem quite as severe this summer, however, as the workload for UDOT's region 2 — which serves the central Wasatch Front — is not quite as heavy as in recent years.

The amount of work to be undertaken in regions 1 (all areas to the north) and 3 (Utah Valley) is quite high, however, and some region 2 engineers and other staffers are being loaned out to assist with projects in those areas.

But that doesn't mean Salt Lake-area residents won't spend a little time in traffic delays between now and early November. Five major projects will involve Redwood Road, U-201, U-36 and I-15, and many smaller road projects will be scattered throughout the region.

Here's a look at the most significant Salt Lake-area road projects for the 2005 season, including impacts to traffic and eventual benefit to motorists:

• I-15 offramps — Crews will add an additional lane to several offramps along the I-15 reconstruction corridor, where traffic exiting the freeway often backs up. Those offramps are located at the I-15 interchanges with 3300 South, 4500 South, 7200 South, 9000 South and 10600 South.

"Northbound I-15 getting off at 106th, if you've ever seen that on a Saturday, that's the need," said region 2 project manager Joe Kemmerer. "Everybody wants to go shopping and car shopping and so adding that additional capacity on the right-hand side will make a big difference."

Any traffic impacts will be intermittent and during off-peak hours only. The offramps will be constructed separately, with about six weeks needed for each one, between April and September.

• Redwood Road, 3500 South to 6600 South — Crews will replace the road surface, several blocks at a time, from April to November. Some beautification work also will take place between 5400 South and I-215.

Kemmerer said work crews will move down the road "pretty fast" and shouldn't cause much inconvenience to local businesses.

"Anytime we do work like this, we've got the Americans With Disabilities Act that comes into play, so we are also modifying all those pedestrian access points to improve the safety and ADA requirements," Kemmerer said.

Two lanes of traffic in each direction will be maintained during peak hours, but the road could be restricted to one lane in each direction in off-peak hours.